My Life in Lessons: Kristi Ross, Co-CEO & President of tastytrade

For months, we’ve been inundated with TV commercials, digital ads and media headlines touting 5G as the “next big thing” in wireless technology. Industry trade show conversations have centered on the technology’s potential, carriers have been offering deals on consumer 5G devices, and companies of all sizes have been clamoring to know what this means for them – especially if they just migrated from 3G to 4G. Making this even more confusing, we’re being hit with a never-ending wave of techno-jargon like “mmWave,” “Sub-6”, and “Mass MIMO.” There’s even more chatter about “private networks” using 4G or 5G and leveraging a new frequency band called Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) operable under both licensed and unlicensed models.  If things weren’t complex enough, on the wireless LAN side, there’s a new Wi-Fi standard, called “Wi-Fi 6.” It has barely penetrated the market and there’s already a follow-on called Wi-Fi 6E.

We are certainly living in interesting times!

Enterprise customers must be prepared to make some challenging, strategic technology decisions, as each new wireless technology promises speed, capacity and/or convenience benefits. However, not all of these technologies may benefit your organization – and those that do may not offer the immediate return on investment (ROI) you’re expecting. That’s why we asked Zebra engineering fellow Bruce Willins to provide clarity on the current wireless inflection and how it will impact your enterprise mobility strategy in the coming months. Our goal with this conversation and others we’ll have in the coming months with top mobility experts is to help customers make intelligent, informed decisions that best suit their respective needs.

Keep reading below to learn which of these new technologies warrant closer attention right now, and possibly a near-term investment, by both small businesses and large enterprises. 

Your Edge Blog Team: What is 5G, fundamentally speaking? 

Bruce: I’m often asked “what is 5G technology?” to which there is no answer since 5G is not any one single technology. It introduces an array of new technologies, such as mass-MIMO spatial diversity at the physical radio network layer and network slicing in the back-end infrastructure. So, even though one “G” beyond 4G doesn’t sound like much, 5G represents a major step in the evolution of cellular technology.

However, it is important to understand that 5G “performance” can vary based on frequency band.  5G spectrum is divided into three different bands. The low and mid bands are Sub-6 GHz. In contrast, the high band operates at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies, which are >24GHz. The lower bands are well suited to extended coverage and range and can more readily propagate through and around physical structures. But they have limited bandwidth/data rates. In contrast, mmWave – some carriers refer to this as ultrawideband – supports very high data rates and enables very small antenna structures which are used to create antenna arrays. But it does not readily extend coverage through walls or other physical structures. So, there’s a bit of a tradeoff: some will enjoy more widespread wireless coverage while others may be able to send and receive more data in limited geographical areas.  

Once fully rolled out, 5G has the potential to deliver speeds equivalent to wired Internet (somewhere between 10 to 100 times faster than 4G LTE), reduce end-to-end latency, and enable new deployment models. Depending on its wireless infrastructure, solution design and application, an organization might find 5G is able to provide enough bandwidth to support 100 times the number of devices 4G LTE can today. 

But, it’s critical to understand, the transition from 4G to 5G is not going to be as cut and dry as the transition from 3G to 4G. It could take up to 15 years for us to fully realize the 5G benefits I just described.  

Your Edge Blog Team: Why is that? Isn’t 5G here already? We hear a lot of ads in the consumer market boasting about these speed and bandwidth gains today. Are those asterisked? 

Bruce: Though it’s true that many consumers have 5G coverage now, they probably aren’t seeing all the benefits of 5G yet. It’s going to take a long time for full 5G capabilities to become pervasive. Early 5G networks on low frequency bands will not have adequate bandwidth to provide very high data rates. Initial 5G “Non-Stand Alone” networks will be partially constrained by legacy 4G infrastructure. The transition from 4G to 5G isn’t going to be an instantaneous rip and replace situation.

Your Edge Blog Team: How do you know if your 5G service is sub6 or mmWave? 

Bruce: Don’t expect to see any noticeable physical differences in the exterior of the mobile device.  Though mmWave requires multiple antenna arrays distributed throughout the device, these are generally within the enclosure. Now, if you have an mmWave device and are operating on a mmWave link, you might feel the device getting warm, as current mmWave silicon solutions consume a considerable amount of battery power. Thus, the best way to tell is to simply look at the device specifications. On this note, do realize that 5G mmWav-enabled devices will operate in lower 5G bands and 4G. So, one shouldn’t assume that a 5G device can only operate with mmWave coverage. 

Your Edge Blog Team: Will businesses that invest in 5G devices today benefit immediately?

Bruce: There’s no easy answer to this question. When we sit down with our customers to talk about 5G, the first thing we ask is if they have a use case that demands 5G. The next thing we want to understand is if they will be operating in a geographic area that has 5G coverage, and if so, what type of 5G coverage is currently available.

For the near future, customers need to realize that devices will be in and out of 5G coverage.  A parcel delivery person in an urban environment may have 5G mmWave, but as he or she drives away from high population density areas, the signal will likely fall back to 5G Su6 and 4G. Thus, writing an application that relies on mmWave performance may not be prudent. The majority of our customers should consider applications that execute well when operating in the lowest-common-denominator of performance, which will remain 4G for several more years.  

Furthermore, low bandwidth data applications in relatively uncongested areas may operate fine under existing 4G. In fact, 4G performance may actually increase as devices shifting to 5G offload these networks. 

But if you’re looking at 5G because you’re planning to rollout more augmented reality (AR) applications, for example, then it may be worth spending the money now on a 5G-enabled, enterprise-grade handheld mobile computer or tablet. AR applications, which are used to provide “next best step” guidance to workers in warehouses, factories, retail stores and other high-tempo environments, require seamless connectivity and low latency between the host mobile computer, the heads-up display and other wearables, such as ring scanners. In this case, a lot of data is being captured, shared, processed and redistributed between the operational edge and back-end systems. There’s also a constant, real-time video feed that must be maintained. 5G’s ability to provide a high-speed, low latency experience within a semi-confined area could prove very beneficial. 

However, if you have those types of applications in play today, and you don’t plan to introduce applications that require 5G performance into your workflows anytime soon, then you’re going to be fully covered with 4G devices for the foreseeable future. By the time you’re ready to replace those 4G devices, 5G networks should be up and running at full mmWave speed, which means you’ll start to see the benefits of a 5G radio in the handheld mobile computer or tablet.  

Your Edge Blog Team: Are there other enterprise applications that would benefit from 5G?

Bruce: Anyone trying to serve a densely populated area where a lot of devices are going to be simultaneously trying to stream video and other data – such as on college campuses, in apartment buildings, and at football stadiums – will see more immediate benefits from 5G. Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and even some healthcare technology solutions will likely need the speeds and/or capacity offered by 5G to reach their full potential. 5G will also be critical to machine-to machine communications and many Industry 4.0 applications, such as robotic arms and autonomous vehicles.   

But from a mobility perspective, with the exception of niche applications, we’re going to see the enterprise adoption rate lag consumer adoption. This is primarily because the enterprise use cases are still evolving, and coverage is still not yet ubiquitous enough to justify the additional cost of 5G and the power or battery impact of mmWave. 

Your Edge Blog Team: What about Wi-Fi 6?  What is it?

Bruce: Wi-Fi 6 is the next generation of Wi-Fi technology. The Wi-Fi Alliance has changed its naming nomenclature so you might know Wi-Fi 6 as 802.11ax. It’s beyond the scope of this discussion to go through all the Wi-Fi 6 features, but a few notable benefits include increased capacity, increased network density, provisions that enable more control of latency and bandwidth provisioning, and support for lower power IoT devices. 

Wi-Fi 6 devices will operate in legacy Wi-Fi infrastructure and, similarly, legacy Wi-Fi devices will operate in a Wi-Fi 6 infrastructure. Wi-Fi 6 devices are increasingly coming to market and will proliferate in 2021. And, if you are wondering if you can get to Wi-Fi 6 via a firmware upgrade, the answer is generally no. 

Your Edge Blog Team: What about Wi-Fi 6E?

Bruce: Wi-Fi 6E is essentially the turbo version of Wi-Fi 6. Past Wi-Fi networks operated in 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Wi-Fi 6E adds a third band: 6GHz. The 6GHz band offers more than twice (1200 MHz) the total available bandwidth – read as capacity – than the 2.4 and 5GHz bands together. Thus, it has the potential to add significant capacity to customer Wi-Fi networks. 

However, operating at higher frequencies does present a tradeoff. Higher frequency signals have more loss when penetrating physical barriers like walls. Expect range to diminish when using 6GHz vs. 2.4GHz, excluding other factors like spatial diversity. Thus, you may only achieve full added capacity of Wi-Fi 6E when closer in proximity to the access point. Depending on access point locations and density, organizations might want to consider changing their network designs to take full advantage of Wi-Fi 6E. 

A question often asked is whether Wi-Fi 6E is a firmware upgrade from Wi-Fi 6. The answer is generally no. The radio frequency (RF) hardware in the access point must be specifically designed to support 6GHz.  

Your Edge Blog Team: Does Wi-Fi 6 offer a strong value proposition for businesses in its current state? 

Bruce: Wi-Fi 6 is a different story than 5G. Enterprise customers have expressed a number of compelling use cases for Wi-Fi 6 and, as they upgrade older access point infrastructure, they are also upgrading to Wi-Fi 6 enabled devices. As the infrastructure transitions, customers buying long-service-life enterprise devices want to make sure they can take full advantage of Wi-Fi 6 capabilities.

A number of large retail enterprise customers have expressed the need to equip all workers with a mobile device, which they understand will stress their existing Wi-Fi networks. Hence the need for Wi-Fi 6. Customers are increasingly seeing the need for a converged, voice-data Wi-Fi solution, which is also driving the need for Wi-Fi 6.  More and more customers are also streaming video over their Wi-Fi networks, such as training videos. They’re also starting to increase the number of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and cross reality (XR) devices as well as Wi-Fi IoT devices. These all need Wi-Fi 6. Finally, in contrast to a cellular solution, enterprise customers have complete control over where, when, and how to rollout a Wi-Fi 6 upgrade, which increases its value proposition automatically. 

Your Edge Blog Team: Is there a rule of thumb on which Wi-Fi 6 flavor is the better starting point?

Bruce: Again, it’s really going to depend on the use case. I strongly recommend that any organization considering an upgrade to either Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E sit down and have an honest conversation with a trusted technology partner about its current needs and anticipated growth plans, both from a workflow and technology utilization perspective.Right now, we’re working with several customers to evaluate the ROI potential for all of these emerging wireless technology platforms in the context of their current operating states and growth ambitions.In several cases, they’re coming to us with a plan to go all-in on Wi-Fi 6, but we realize over the course of a discovery session that they really need Wi-Fi 6E to achieve their goals. When that happens, we start to weigh all options: should they jump right into Wi-Fi 6E? Should it be an incremental upgrade over the next 3-5 years?Will they ever really need Wi-Fi 6E based on their industry and projected technology innovation? In some cases, customers will never need the turbo version, just like they don’t need premium features on their mobile computers today.  

Your Edge Blog Team: You weren’t kidding when you said the transition to these next-gen technologies weren’t going to be a simple switchover.

Bruce: Unfortunately, not. As technology becomes more prolific, connectivity requirements are no longer as simple as saying we need cellular, Wi-Fi or both. There’s a lot to think about to ensure the solutions work as they must to maximize worker productivity and overall operational output. And, of course, we must always keep thinking in the back of our mind about the future adequacy of technology upgrades. Remember the classical Bill Gates’ line: “640K ought to be enough for anybody.”  Today, we have mobile devices with four orders of magnitude more memory than this, so perhaps 640K isn’t enough. 

Your Edge Blog Team:  There’s been a lot of buzz about private networks, is that something that customers should be considering?  

Bruce: Private networks have been around for quite some time. In simplistic terms, as the name implies, a private network is generally isolated with only gated access to any public network(s).  It leverages WAN protocols (e.g. 4G or 5G) and cellular devices. It also offers enterprise customers data isolation/protection and self-managed, dedicated resource availability, meaning it’s not shared with the general public.

The interest in private networks in the U.S. has grown tremendously with the introduction of CBRS, which is the buzz you’re referring to.  CBRS represents a swatch of spectrum in the 3.5GHz band and can operate in either licensed spectrum or “lightly” licensed spectrum. This means that an enterprise customer without a spectrum license can install a CBRS base station – or stations – and own and operate a CBRS network. One advantage of this scenario is coverage with minimal infrastructure. A single CBRS base station can cover as much area as 10 Wi-Fi access points. For example, a customer looking to cover a campus with a minimal amount of network infrastructure devices might choose to go CBRS. Since CBRS networks are based on cellular protocols and technologies, they inherit many of those technologies’ benefits, such as protocols that provide more deterministic latency for voice communications. Though the example just cited is for an outdoor application, we have seen interest from customers looking to provide indoor coverage in large open spaces.   

Your Edge Blog Team: It sounds like CBRS offers a lot of benefits to a lot of different types of organizations. 

Bruce: You’re absolutely right. Everyone from retailers and hospitality providers to healthcare organizations and transportation companies could probably benefit from CBRS in some way.  With that said, customers that already have a Wi-Fi network and are looking to extend coverage using CBRS must be able to manage two disparate networks.

Your Edge Blog Team: Is there a scenario in which an organization would benefit from cutting the cord, so to speak? Could someone use CBRS to completely replace traditional cellular service or Wi-Fi infrastructure?

Bruce: There are some situations in which CBRS and other private LTE network technologies will be used to completely replace traditional cellular and Wi-Fi solutions. However, I think we’ll see CBRS layered in more as a supplemental solution when someone needs to boost coverage or bandwidth capacity in a very targeted application. For example, a big box retailer isn’t going to necessarily rip and replace its entire Wi-Fi architecture with CBRS. But it might add CBRS to the mix to provide better coverage in its parking lots. An organization that needs to facilitate conversations about sensitive data may also opt to add CBRS on top of existing wireless infrastructure. A good example would be a hospital where doctors are conducting telehealth appointments and want to ensure patient conversations are kept private. 

Your Edge Blog Team: It doesn’t sound like there’s a single best roadmap that organizations should follow to transition to these next-generation wireless technologies, then. 

Bruce: There really isn’t. That’s why it’s so important to first define every application that needs wireless connectivity in some capacity. Then you can sit down with your technology partner to think about how much speed and bandwidth is needed to support those applications in a current state and the anticipated future state. You also have to figure out your tolerance level with regards to latency and reliability. How big of a deal will it be if a signal drops for a split second or doesn’t reach to the furthest edge of your operation? 

You’ll also need to think about how many devices – and how many different types of devices – you need to support. Will a single LTE network be sufficient or will it serve you best to utilize cellular, Wi-Fi and CBRS at once? Can you consolidate from Wi-Fi and CBRS down to just CBRS? Can you afford to wait for 5G to mature more in the enterprise space as long as you upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E right now? And can you afford to upgrade twice in a two-year period if you opt to start with Wi-Fi 6 and progress to Wi-Fi 6E later? 

This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list of considerations, but it is a baseline of what organizations need to think about before spending any money on new wireless technology. It’s our job at Zebra, and it’s the job of our channel partners, to help organizations ask the right questions and then find the right answers specific to each customer’s operating environment. Though today’s wireless ecosystem is more complex than ever, it gives us more flexibility than we’ve ever had to build the right technology solutions for our customers based on their very specific needs. Plus, with the wide variety of flavors now available, businesses no longer have to settle for subpar wireless technology performance or struggle to scale certain applications. We’re going to be able to be very innovative from here on out. The sky’s no longer the limit. 

Originally posted here.

This book offers guidance for CPO and CIO’s activating digital transformations, in-house teams saddled with product debt and legacy systems, it’s for every product manager, product designer, or engineer looking to improve delivery with a proven methodology. It’s not theoretical. It’s tactical. It’s how we do it at Devbridge.

The Secret Source

This book covers the entire lifecycle of product development at Devbridge. It details how we successfully build digital products on a foundation of healthy metrics, delivery process, and technical maturity.

“Hi team, let’s all chat about something I’ve noticed.”

This is the voice and mindset of a steady yet transparent Software Tester ready to suggest an important amendment to the team’s process.

We (Quality Assurance) might be perceived by some as disrupting the process of “code to production” much like the “Farm-to-Table” concept when pointing out any issues during planning and execution. Software or Quality inspectors, if you will, must dissect (no pun intended) the code prior to reaching our consumers and debone the process to ensure all requirements – or in Agile terms, “user stories” – are met. An easy feat? Not at all. A necessary one? Yes! It is our eye for all things misaligned that is crucial to the quality of a product, even if that means incorporating a few extra steps with a side of constructive feedback.

Like many of you, I like to eat – and eat well. There is a very structured process to getting the food we love to our tables. However, if we want our food to maintain the highest standards, to be in season, organic and local, a farm-to-table process is best. Companies delivering software and wanting their customers highest approval will find that the adoption of Agile along with a strong QA is best. Like Farm-to-Table, the Agile process ensures all work is completed in-season (within a sprint). Who enforces or oversees this process within an Agile team? The answer to that question is the team. There are key roles we won’t define today, but the Quality Assurance Tester should always find themselves in process observation mode while testing. The tester should be empowered to let the team know when protocol has been broken or if adjustments are needed. An Olenick Quality Assurance Tester can be a very hybrid and all-consuming role. We are not only involved in the technical process, but we are well aware of every step necessary to achieving a successful end state. Let’s take a look at how two very different systems share similar operating behaviors in a quest for a very high-quality product:

Farm-to-Table and Agile Process Parallels

Raising the Animal or Harvesting Produce: Restaurants adopting true Farm-to-Table must find themselves working in-season with local farms. The relationship between farmers and chefs become very close as they work together. This could also mean menus may change regularly based on nature.

– vs –

User Stories (Requirements) and Team Dynamic: Organizations with teams delivering complex time sensitive software within an Agile process will find themselves working within an iteration or sprint: an agreed upon length of time to get the work completed. Teams composed of strong QA Engineers, Developers, Scrum Masters, and Requirements Gatherers will find themselves in a much closer relationship with the users much like the farmers and chefs. Due to this process and similar to the ever-changing menus, requirements could get updated or adjusted based on conversations or further research.

– and –

Picking the Produce and Processing the Meat: Produce must be handled with care, the less bruises the better quality. Also, time matters when preserving the nutrients of produce after it’s been harvested. This all takes place before it is packaged, boxed, and shipped to restaurants and stores. Meat must be processed and graded using a certain system in order to be classified as farm-to-table. The USDA certifies certain beef cuts and poultry grades.

– vs –

Development and Testing: Not exactly the same system but…sort of. Developers must remove or make changes to configurations in the database and implement code according to the standards laid out by the user stories. In this case, I like to think of the Tester as the USDA – strolling in with plastic gloves (or not, I personally would wear gloves) inspecting the very delicate work of the Engineer. The Tester would run every query related to the Developer’s configuration changes in the backend and analyze the actual results from processes performed in the newly implemented UI. It is at this time the Tester will grade what has been produced before it is distributed – or shall I say – deployed to production.

Farm-to-Table and the Agile process could be viewed as “trends”, “buzzwords,” or a “movement” which many organizations deem unnecessary. The reality is that Farm-to-Table was created because there was a need. People decided that food grown within their community with minimal transportation maintains more nutrition than processed food transported from afar. The Agile methodology was created to eliminate time to market by releasing smaller more pertinent changes to the customer which made expectations clear, a more stable product, and saved the company money. Prior to Agile, organizations worked on extensive software development projects that would fail to complete on time causing a huge hit to the budget. Both processes were created to fulfill a need and heighten the user experience by producing a product that leaves the customers feeling secure.

Every highly valued method demands an inspector to keep the process honest and product optimized. Olenick Quality Assurance Testers are the USDA for organizations looking to maintain or improve their software delivery process. Our QA Testers are multifaceted and equipped to protect the integrity of the software project. Olenick Quality Assurance Testers will uphold the standards of Agile, get involved in requirements early in the process, promote sustainability, and locate and find solutions for gaps in the process – all while making sure users receive a product of the highest quality within season.

This blog was originally posted here.

If your business has been looking for ways to start using artificial intelligence (AI) in your marketing, one channel you’ve likely considered is email.

Most businesses rely heavily on email as part of their sales and marketing strategy, and as Google phases out third-party cookies, the need for a strong contact database and an effective email program will only intensify.

Email tends to be a central channel for our clients, and it’s important for us as well, so it was top of mind as we considered new ways to incorporate AI into our toolkit.

After doing our research and comparing options, we recently onboarded an AI-based email marketing optimization tool called Seventh Sense, which uses machine learning to personalize email delivery times and, ultimately, increase open and click rates.

If you’re interested in a manageable, cost-effective technology that can get you started with AI-based email marketing, read on.

The Case for Optimizing Send Times with AI

I’m not sure how many times I’ve searched for the “best days/times to send email for [insert industry],” but it’s too many. Do the search yourself and you’ll find the answers to be an unhelpful mix of “it depends,” “Tuesdays at 10am” or “definitely NOT Tuesdays at 10am.”

Good stuff!

Advice on suggested send times will ultimately hedge its bets with some obvious common sense: the best way to optimize for send time is by conducting tests and analyzing your contacts’ engagement to see when they tend to open and click emails.

This is true, but there are a few problems with this, namely:

• Humans aren’t great at this kind of analysis
• You have other time-sensitive stuff to do
• Your database is constantly changing
• There’s always the remote possibility that your database is not one homogenous block of people who all like reading their emails on the same days at the same times

So, what’s an email marketer to do?

Enter Artificial Intelligence

While humans may not be great at it, testing, analyzing and optimizing email engagement using data is exactly the type of task AI is suited for.

If we could improve email performance while freeing up the time that would go to manually testing and analyzing engagement trends for more strategic work, it’d be a clear win. And we could stop doing searches for the latest on the best days/times to send emails.

Of course, send time optimization is just one application of many within the AI-based email marketing category. For example, there are tools like Phrasee and Persado that use AI to craft and test different email subject lines and copy variants based on engagement data. The list is growing fast.

While we’ve got our eyes on some other tools in the market, for now we’re keeping the copywriting in human hands while we test AI on send time optimization.

About Seventh Sense

Seventh Sense struck us as a good fit because, in addition to having the features we were looking for and overwhelmingly positive customer reviews, the platform is built to optimize email delivery for HubSpot and Marketo. As a HubSpot agency partner, many of our clients use the platform for marketing and sales emails.

By integrating with HubSpot, Seventh Sense analyzes your contacts and their engagement to personalize and predict when they are most likely to read your email. Using machine learning, the tool continually tests and analyzes engagement data so that over time, open and click rates increases, your sender score improves and you get more results from your email campaigns.

Read the full article here.

As many of our clients know, the employment-based Green Card process can take years. Because of the lengthiness of this process, things often change between the initial PERM filing date and the time when the priority date is finally current. In particular, changing jobs or employers can have a significant impact on Green Card processing. This article will explain some common scenarios pertaining to employer changes, with an emphasis on timing considerations and maintenance of status issues for H-1B holders.

Employer Change after I-140 Approval Stage / I-485 Not Yet Filed:

Under the 2017 Final Rule (“Retention of EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 Immigrant Workers and Program Improvements Affecting High-Skilled Nonimmigrant Workers”), the beneficiary of an approved I-140 may retain its priority date even if the employer later withdraws it. However, the timing matters. The priority date may only be retained if the I-140 is withdrawn 180 days or more after the approval date.

Therefore, if you are in the Green Card process and you change employers after the I-140 has been approved for 180 days or longer, you can retain your priority date and continue the Green Card process with your new employer. The new employer will have to file a PERM and a new I-140, but the priority date on the new I-140 would be the same as the previous I-140, since it can be retained in these circumstances.

Employer Change after I-140 Approval, I-485 Pending Stage:

In the past, changing jobs or employers after I-140 approval while the I-485 was already pending meant that the foreign worker had to obtain a new I-140 and start the process again (although the priority date could usually be ported). The 2017 Final Rule clarified some of the AC-21 provisions and permits Green Card applicants who change jobs/employers to continue to use their previously approved I-140 petition, as long as their I-485 application has been pending for at least 180 days and the new job is in the same or similar occupational classification as the job on the approved I-140. In this scenario, the I-485 applicant will simply have to include a Form I-485 Supplemental J with supporting evidence that the new job meets the portability requirements (rather than obtain a new I-140 approval). Sometimes USCIS will issue a Request for Evidence for the Supplemental J during the pendency of the application. Otherwise, the applicant will just bring it to the I-485 interview date.

Employer Change after I-140 Approval, I-485 Not Yet Filed, but Priority Date is Current:

An interesting situation can arise where you have changed employers after I-140 approval, prior to I-485 filing, but yet to start the process with your new employer. This is particularly complex if you are working on an H-1B visa and your priority date becomes current.

Under AC-21, an H-1B employee can continue to extend H-1B status beyond the 6-year maximum in three-year increments if they are the beneficiary of an approved I-140 and a visa is not available to the beneficiary at the time of filing the H-1B (meaning the priority date is not yet current).

There is another exception under AC-21, which allows you to extend H-1B status beyond the 6-year maximum, in one-year increments, if the I-485 has been filed and remains pending. To qualify for the lengthy adjudication delay exemption, the I-485 must have been filed within one year of the priority date being current.

The problem arises when an H-1B holder has an approved I-140 and their I-485 has not yet been filed, even though their priority date is current. This arises most often where the employee has changed employers but not yet started the PERM and I-140 process with the new employer. In these instances, USCIS can deny the H-1B on the basis that neither of the above explained exceptions apply. This is important to bear in mind, as the timing of the change in employers can affect not only your Green Card process, but also your H-1B status.

If you think your priority date will soon be current and you need to extend your H-1B status beyond the 6-year maximum, this is something to bear in mind when making decisions about changing jobs. In this scenario, it may be best to avoid changing employers until after the I-485 is filed, when you can simply submit a Supplemental J rather than start the process all over. When changing employers, it is important to consider not only your Green Card process, but also impacts on your H-1B status.

Conclusion:

In sum, employment-based Green Card processing can be particularly complex and confusing. The lengthy process means often applicants will experience job and employer changes during this time (some voluntary, some beyond their control), adding to the complexity. ILBSG strongly encourages clients to always seek counsel before making these kinds of decisions, to avoid any issues down the road.

If you have questions about employment-based Green Card processing, H-1B implications, or employer changes, please reach out to an ILBSG attorney today.

Originally published here.

I’m not going to lie, choosing to invest in intelligent automation is not a simple undertaking. There are a lot of factors that must be weighed when evaluating the economics of a smart robot and an exhaustive list of performance, security, safety and management criteria to consider when shopping for this type of technology. We discussed many of them in these two blog posts

• The Economics of – and Business Case for – Intelligent Automation
• Retailers: Read This Before You Commit to An Intelligent Automation Solution

So, you might feel a bit of relief once you have made your selection and prep for implementation. You’re finally in the home stretch. But you can’t take your eye off the ball yet because what you do (or don’t do) next will directly influence your return on investment (ROI) time frame.

SOLUTION DEPLOYMENT IS NOT THE FINISH LINE

Though technically a software solution, intelligent automation utilizes a very large hardware component that – if not properly assimilated – can lead to employee resistance, lagging adoption and loss of investment value. So, while your focus is going to shift to the deployment stage quite quickly after you select an intelligent automation solution, don’t skip the most important step in your implementation: employee training and adoption.

Even if you do everything right on the back end to integrate the shelf inventory and pricing data collected by the smart robot into your prescriptive analytics, inventory management and demand planning solutions, those insights could be rendered useless if associates – the ones who must ultimately act on those insights – don’t understand how to leverage them. The last thing you want is your team wasting time duplicating the robot’s work because they are unfamiliar with how to use it or embed it in their daily workflows. At the same time, if front-line workers perceive intelligent automation to be a threat to their jobs, your investment could end up being a blow to morale versus boosting it as intended.

Something else to remember is that intelligent automation can cause both confusion and interest among customers, both of which could become disruptive to your operation and their shopping experience if not proactively mitigated. When people first see a smart robot roaming store aisles, they may get excited or they may become uncomfortable because it is unfamiliar to them. Be sure you consider both your employees’ and your customers’ potential experiences with intelligent automation as you work through the design and implementation requirements. And make sure you clearly communicate its role in driving in-store and online service improvements to customers once you start to deploy. Change management is critical for everyone, not just your associates.

In other words, taking care to properly onboard your intelligent automation solution is critical to achieving your desired outcomes, but the deployment alone will not determine the performance, value, or ROI of this technology. You must prepare your people for what’s to come and educate them – better yet, show them – how the intelligent automation solution will help them deliver even more value.. Solution adoption (by your entire team) is what will secure the win.

HOW TO GET YOUR INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION SOLUTION IN SYNC WITH YOUR BACK-OFFICE SYSTEMS AND FRONT-LINE TEAMS

I know you’ll be eager to put your intelligent automation investment to work. But, before you plug anything in, be sure you sit down with the right internal and external stakeholders to:

1. Set expectations and define goals.

It’s important to outline all the reasons why you embarked on this new endeavor. Are you hoping to reduce your overall operation cost, speed up your cycle time and/or recover lost revenue?

Even if you have completed this exercise before – and it’s very likely you’ve done this several times at this point – it’s imperative to do it again now. Though not recommended, it’s not unusual for a singular disciplinary team to spearhead the solution evaluation and selection processes. So, as you start to build and engage a cross-functional team to go the last mile – and sustain the intelligent automation system long term – you may not find the same people sitting around the table anymore, and everyone needs to be on the same page.

Even if you did have multiple parties engaged from day one, it’s quite possible that things have changed since you started this journey. Your “wish list” may have doubled in size, or you may have identified new challenges or opportunities that could impact objectives. Remember, intelligent automation is not just a single component. It’s a complete system that must integrate with many other systems, which can introduce more complexity once your entire technology architecture is mapped out and understood. At the same time, the software is very scalable and adaptable, so you may decide in the 11th hour that you need to adjust your intelligence mandates to achieve desired outcomes.

Just be sure to define the acceptable improvement thresholds as setting clear quantitative and qualitative performance metrics will keep your team focused on the most critical levers that support your goals.

2. Understand the implementation process – and what happens next.

Educating your team and selecting champions to lead this change is the first step in attaining your goals. It’s imperative they are fully onboard with what needs to happen and what they’re being asked to do. It’s usually recommended to start with a minimally viable product, or MVP implementation that can serve as a proof of concept. This enables you to de-risk major areas of concern before you fully deploy. At this stage, your objectives are less about ensuring that the technology you are implementing is working perfectly and more about understanding the many different ways that intelligent automation could support your business goals based on system capabilities in your unique operating environment.

Even though IT plays a key role in deploying intelligent automation since it provides servers, network access, and business integration, it is not the end user. Involve business operations, to include store managers, front-line associates, and other users of the intelligent automaton implementation output to ensure they:

• understand what it can do.
• are comfortable with what it does.
• know how to interact with all system components, including the hardware (i.e. robot) and software (i.e. intelligence being pushed to their mobile computers and other devices).
• fully accept the solution as a valued member of the team. (You may have to incentivize them, and that’s okay.)
• are clear on their individual and collective roles in the implementation as well as post-deployment solution monitoring and management.

If you’re innovating in the way in which your business provides After Delivery Reports (ADR) using a system such as Zebra Smartsight™ EMA, make sure to involve the users who leverage these reports to provide you valuable feedback and provide guidance on how to maximize your ROI case.

A word to the wise: Do not omit the scaling plan! Everyone needs to be clear on how an intelligent automation implementation would grow its footprint within your business. There should be no surprises. Plus, the more time people have to plan for what’s coming, the more time they have to process and accept the changes and their role in them. It may be best to incorporate in the training curriculum.

3. Prepare your business.

Though discussions will remain prevalent throughout this phase, this is when you’ll start to take very targeted, tangible actions to turn on the system.

Once your internal stakeholders are ready to go, provide your partner with access to the data and business assets required to develop the detailed implementation plan. This might include operational insights, schedules and other dependencies that could impact integration, refinement and security decisions. They may also ask you to adjust other areas in your infrastructure required to support the intelligence automation solution, such as your IT infrastructure (i.e. Wi-Fi and servers) or user interfaces such as handheld mobile computers, wearables, scanners or tablets.

No two intelligent automation solution integrations are the same, and its best practice for solution providers to customize each engagement to their customers’ unique needs. (That’s why it was so important to lay all expectations out in earlier planning meetings.) Support your partner and their efforts, as this isn’t the first time they’ve done this. In fact, we’re often told by customers that they chose to work with Zebra because we’re uniquely able to develop, deploy and support intelligent automation solutions in an incremental way that’s best for their businesses.

A word to the wise: Capture a snapshot of your current business operation and performance before you make any changes and then at regular intervals to compare progress and flag issues that may arise.

BEWARE OF THESE TWO POTENTIAL ROADBLOCKS

Your partner is going to do everything in its power to simplify the solution rollout (or they should, at least). But there are a couple of things that the Zebra team has encountered quite commonly when working with our customers that have made intelligent automation implementations more challenging than necessary:

1.  Involving the departments that support the actual deployment as described above but forgetting to ramp up the other teams that interacting with it on a daily basis long term. (This is why I recommend engaging all end users before you even start the proof-of-concept implementation. Front-line workers and those managing the system on the back end must buy in before you go live.)

2. Selecting the toughest applications to test the technology rather than a standard application. These complex applications doom the new implementations to fail and cause you to build a conception of its dysfunctionality because they are normally corner cases with little contribution to the ROI case. Therefore, starting with the most common applications (i.e. low-hanging fruit) is critical to building small wins. You can then expand the solution’s capabilities from there. Don’t forget that new technologies – and new capabilities within existing technology platforms – are being developed daily. It will become easier to tackle your more difficult applications over time. That’s why it’s so very important to select a partner that’s capable of innovation.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I can’t stress this enough, but deployment of your intelligent automation solution is not the end game – it’s just the enabler on your journey to becoming a more intelligent enterprise (or small business). The right partner will know that and likely emphasize it as much as I do. More importantly, they will take that fact into account as they’re working with you to define the solution implementation and employee education processes.

That’s why you need to scrutinize both a solution’s capabilities and the solution provider’s capabilities with equal discernment. If you enlist a manufacturer to guide you on this journey because they have “good products,” just be sure it also has the ability to:

• provide effective support for current products.
• continually innovate so that you aren’t suddenly stuck with an obsolete system. (Ask about its development strategy and roadmap on day one.)
• implement the solution squarely in the context of your pain points. (If they’re trying to force fit the “solution” into your environment and it doesn’t center on your target issues, then it “isn’t going to solve anything.)
• help you scale intelligently and in stages without introducing unnecessary risks.
• develop an agile project plan for your sub-projects so that you’re not stuck guessing the best next step to take. (That would be a bit ironic, wouldn’t it?)
• stretch the boundaries of its solution and expand the scope of your project (and its support) as you continue to grow your implementation footprint.

It is also critical that you remain agile throughout this entire process. It will help if you proactively:

• monitor your key performance indicators (KPI) and track them overtime.
• evaluate solution performance periodically and select areas for improvement.
• take measured steps to adapt your business to these newly untapped potentials.
• leverage your displaced labor in other areas within your operations which potentially impact your customer’s experience (and help boost employee value and morale).
• award champions of this advancement within your team and continue to empower them to lead.

My last piece of advice (for now): accept that things may not always go as planned. There may be hiccups during the deployment. There may not be instant harmony between your associates and the intelligent automation solution. And a million external factors could interfere with your ability to achieve desired outcomes in the timeline you defined. (Can you imagine what retailers must have felt when COVID-19 hit in the middle of their solution rollout?)

But if you take all of the above tips into account and have the right partner on speed dial, things should turn out better than expected! In fact, those who had deployed the Zebra SmartSight robot-as-a-service (RaaS) solution prior to the pandemic found themselves better able to recover from the initial surge demand impact. Their teams had the visibility they needed to manage shelf stock more efficiently and employees who may have been resistant at first became appreciative of the “extra eyes” on the floor as well as the actionable intelligence it was feeding to their mobile computers. They didn’t have to scramble quite as much as their peers to appease customers and save sales.

Originally published here.

The scope of the student loan crisis is significant. Forty five million borrowers owe a cumulative total of 1.6 trillion dollars in student loans, ranking just behind mortgage debt as the second highest debt category. [1] After making monthly payments on their student loans, borrowers have less in their budget for basic living expenses, but also higher ticket items like the purchase of a home, cars, appliances, furniture, and vacations. The resultant financial stress has an impact on borrowers’ quality of life, productivity at work, loyalty to their employers, and even the economy as a whole.
 
An Employee Financial Wellness survey conducted by PWC, found that 80% of student loan borrowers reported not being able to meet all of their financial obligations after making their monthly student loan payments. Another survey by Robert Half found that that 64% of workers are willing to change companies every few years if it comes with perks, such as assistance with student debt. The PWC survey also found that 49% of student loan borrowers indicated they spend three hours or more per week dealing with personal financial issues that adversely affect their productivity at work. [2]

Another effect of student debt is latent retirees: an alarming statistic is that there are 2.1 million senior citizens still paying off their student debt. [3] If older workers are not able to save for retirement due to the burden of student loan debt, they aren’t likely to be able to retire at what is considered normal retirement age. If they cannot retire with dignity, many seniors are compelled to continue working beyond normal retirement age. These latent retirees raise the cost of employment in the workforce due to higher health insurance costs of an aging workforce. [4]

In a study conducted by American Student Assistance 86% of employees indicated they would stay with a company for five years or more, if their employer offered a program to help them repay their student loans. In a MetLife study, 72% of employees surveyed said that customizable benefits would increase their loyalty to an employer. [5] Student loan repayment benefits can be a great way for a company to increase employee productivity, as well as an effective means to both attract and retain talent to an organization.

Join us for an informative webinar where we offer tangible, actionable solutions for individuals with student debt, as well as employers looking for ways to help their employees navigate their own personal debt crisis.
Webinar Date and Time

April 22^nd at 12:00 PM CST, with an expected duration of 1 hour. Register here!Webinar Speakers

• Tom Kret, Sr. Vice President, UBS Financial Services | Moderator
• Laurel Taylor, CEO, FutureFuel.i.o. | Speaker
• Mark Rose, Vice President of Product, FutureFuel.i.o. | Speaker
• Jenna Hokanson | Speaker

Sources:

[1, 3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2020/02/03/student-loan-debt-statistics/?sh=191a19c6281f

[2, 5] https://www.gradifi.com/notebook/workplace-trends/how-student-loan-debt-impacts-your-employees

[4] https://www.valuepenguin.com/how-age-affects-health-insurance-costs

For over three decades, as a Senior Retirement Plan Consultant, I have focused on assisting employers and their retirement plan participants to accumulate assets for their retirement. If you’d like to discuss how UBS’ Financial Wellness program could be a helpful resource to your employees in attaining their personal financial goals and objectives, call or email me. 

Direct: 847-277-2123

Email: thomas.kret@ubs.com

FALLS CHURCH, Va., March 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Kastle Systems announced today that it is providing property owners, tenants and employees with a new ability to add vaccination status as a factor to control access to offices and buildings, an important step in helping workers get back to the office safely. In addition, Kastle Systems allows for integration of testing results into its technology platform, facilitating another screen for granting access to workers and visitors to office buildings and suites and, when combined with its KastleSafeSpaces products and protocols, will help create the safest possible office environments

Vaccination status can be verified by employees and visitors in the KastlePresence® App or by the employer’s HR team on behalf of the employee through the myKastle web portal. This feature will allow building and office management to use vaccination status to determine access, consistent with each building and office suite’s specific set of policies, as they prepare for office occupancy to return to pre-pandemic levels.

“We are proud to be a leader in pioneering solutions in helping buildings re-open and helping tenants and workers get back to the office safely and more quickly. With 100 million Americans now vaccinated, adding an individual’s vaccination status to provide access to the office is a big, important next step,” said Haniel Lynn, CEO, Kastle Systems. “We are arming buildings and businesses with an easy and effective way to implement the safe return to the office consistent with the policies that work best for their specific workplaces, including considering vaccination status.”

Kastle technology is installed in more than 3,600 buildings and 41,000 businesses across 47 states and 14 countries. By integrating vaccination and testing data with a building’s access control infrastructure, Kastle offers additional layers of precaution for office workers nationwide.

Kastle customers can choose to enable this offering for their building or office suite. For more information, visit www.kastle.com.Originally published here.

It may come as no surprise that a majority of organizations have automation in mind for 2021 initiatives.

Incorporating automation into your business processes can help to reduce error, save time, and reduce costs – but without the right guidance and support for your automation strategy, challenges can quickly arise.

Olenick’s Automation Enablement methodology can help to expedite automation efforts by identifying the types of automation that would be beneficial to your organization, defining implementation layers for automation projects, and providing direction for automation teams to successfully test and implement new automation processes.

We invite you to watch our webinar below, as Olenick Vice President Brent Melson takes us through a step-by-step approach organizations may follow from automation workshop planning, training and coaching for teams, automation test creation and execution, script and architecture quality review, and – perhaps most importantly – automation value measurement and reporting. For more information on Olenick’s Automation Enablement services, click here or reach out to us. To stay up to date on future webinars and blogs, make sure to sign up for our Subscription List here.

Originally published here.